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Harvard. Economics Ph.D. (1929). Transcripts of Earl J. Hamilton

 

 

University archives are very strict about releasing the academic records of their alumni. Every so often I find that one of the pack-rats I encounter in my archival visits kept a personal copy of his or her own transcripts. The economic historian Earl J. Hamilton had copies of his transcripts from his B.S. from Missippi State University, M.A. from Texas and his graduate work leading up to his Ph.D. from Harvard. Thus we are able to trace Hamilton’s academic progress from his high-school days (at least we know the courses for which he was given entrance credit) up through his Harvard A.M. I have added the course titles and instructors for Hamilton’s courses taken at Harvard.

Hamilton’s book American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650 was assigned reading in my Yale undergraduate course on the economic history of Europe before 1750 taught by Professor Harry Miskimin.

_____________________________

Earl Jefferson Hamilton (1899-1989)

Earl Jefferson Hamilton was born on May 17, 1899 in Houlka, Mississippi. He received a B.S. with honors from Mississippi State University (1920), an M.A. from the University of Texas (1924), and a Ph.D. from Harvard (1929). In 1952, he received a Docteur Honoris Causa from the University of Paris and again from the University of Madrid.

Hamilton also held a Thayer Fellowship and a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship (Harvard University), a Social Science Research Fellowship, a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and a Faculty Research Fellowship from the Ford Foundation.

Hamilton was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Duke University (1927-1929), a Professor of Economics at Duke University (1929-1944), Professor of Economics at Northwestern University (1944-1947), and a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago (1947-1967).

Hamilton was the editor of the Journal of Political Economy from 1948 to 1954 and president of the Economic History Association from 1951 to 1952. His books include American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650 (1934), Money, Prices, and Wages in Valencia, Aragon and Navarre, 1351-1500 (1936), War and Prices in Spain, 1651-1800 (1947), and Landmarks in Political Economy (1962). Late in his career Hamilton developed an interest in the work of John Law of Lauriston.

Source: Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Guide to the Earl J. Hamilton Papers 1927-1975.

_____________________________

 

MISSISSIPPI AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE
A. AND M. COLLEGE, MISSISSIPPI

J.C. Herbert, Registrar

December 16, 1925.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

This certifies that Mr. E. J. Hamilton graduated with honors from the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Business and Industry in May of 1920.

Mr. Hamilton has on file in the office of the Registrar, the following entrance units and college credits:

[Graduated from Buena Vista High School, Mississippi in 1915]

Entrance Subjects Units
English 4
History 2
Latin 2 ½
Mathematics:
Algebra 1 ½
Geometry ½
Science:
Agriculture 2
Chemistry ½
Physiology ½
Physics ½

 

 

Credit Hours Grades
1916-1917
Commerce:
Bookkeeping 15 6 82
Bookkeeping 16 4 68
Bookkeeping 17 4 70
Business Methods 24 10 80
Typewriting 12 6 81
English 1, Composition 15 70
Geology 15, Commercial Geography 5 85
History:
English 1 3 74
Mediaeval and Modern 21 3 86
American History Since 1750 22 3 94
Markets 1 4 80
Mathematics:
Plane Geometry 10 Credit
Solid Geometry 5 65
 

1917-1918 (One Term)
Commerce:
Typewriting 2b 2 90
Stenography 2a 3 70
History:
American Government 1 5 90
American Government 7 5 89
Public Discourse:
Business Correspondence and Conversation 3 5 80
1918-1919 and Summer of 1918
Commerce:
Business Organization 307 5 95
Business Law 303 5 95
Advanced Business Law 305 5 80
Economics:
Outlines of Economics 1-3 6 94
Money and Banking 7 5 95
English 19, Composition 3 94
History 7, Europe Since the Reformation 3 80
Modern Language:
Spanish 1-215 10 93
Spanish 205-213-219-225 16 95
French 109 5 94
French 101-103 8 94
French 111-113-125 11 95
Philosophy and Sociology:
Latin American Relations 5 92
International Relations 1-3-5 9 96
Sociology 17 5 97
1919-1920
Commerce:
Accounting 204 5 91
Investments 315 5 95
Typewriting 104 5 90
Education:
The Educative Process 9 5 93
Classroom Management 11 5 92
Rural Schools 27 3 90
Psychology 1 5 98
Modern Languages:
French 107-115-119 11 94
Spanish 215-219 10 96
Italian 401a 3 94
Public Discourse:
Advertising 5 5 85
Thesis 13 5 85

Note: One credit hour represents one recitation of not less than 45 minutes for theory and 100 minutes for laboratory, once a week for twelve weeks, prior to the session of 1917-1918. Since the session of 1917-1918, the lecture periods have been 50 minutes and the laboratory periods 110 minutes.

Respectfully,
(Signed) J. C. Herbert
Registrar

_____________________________

 

RECORD OF COLLEGE WORK
University of Texas

Hamilton, Earl Jefferson
Degree Obtained, M.A., 1924

 

Course No. Descriptive Title of Course Value in Semester Hours Clock hours: Lec. Total Weeks Grades
Summer		 Session
Ed. 21 Educational Organization, Administration and Supervision 6 15 7 ABA 1922
Gov. 15 Comparative Municipal Government 6 15 7 BAB 1922
Eco.214a The Labor Problem 2 5 7 A 1923
Eco. 117 Socialism 2 5 7 A 1923
Eco.31ac World Politics 4 10 7 AA 1923
Eco.148 Land Problems 2 5 7 A 1923
Gov. 14b American Diplomacy 2 5 7 A 1923
Thesis 6 15 7 Credit 1924

 

Grades: A, 90-100; B, 30-89; C, 70-79; D, 60-69; E, condition; F, failure; G, failure too bad to continue the course; P, examination postponed. Passing grade is D.

_____________________________

COPY

Harvard University
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
24 University Hall, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Transcript of the record of Mr. Earl Jefferson Hamilton

 

1924-25
COURSE GRADE
Economics 7b2 (½ course)
[Programmes of Social Reconstruction, T.N. Carver]		 A
Economics 11 (1 course)
[Economic Theory, F.W. Taussig]		 A
Economics 12a1 (½ course)
[Problems in Sociology and Social Reform, T.N. Carver]		 A minus
Economics 14 (1 course)
[History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848, C.J. Bullock]		 A
Economics 322 (½ course)
[Economics of Agriculture, T.N. Carver]		 A
Economics 331 (½ course)
[International Trade and Tariff Problems, F. W. Taussig]		 B plus
Summer of 1924
Economics S2a (½ course)
[European Industry and Commerce since 1750, A. P. Usher]		 A
Economics S2b (½ course)
[Economic History of the United States, A. P. Usher]		 A
1925-1926
Economics 7a1 (½ course)
[Theories of Value and Distribution, Williams]		 A
Economics 10a1 (½ course)
[History of Commerce and Industry to 1500, A. P. Usher]		 A
Economics 10b2 (½ course)
[History of Commerce and Industry, 1500-1750, A. P. Usher]		 A
Economics 151 (½ course)
[Modern Schools of Economic Thought, A.A. Young]		 A
Economics 20 (1 course)
[Economic Research Course]		 A
Economics 38 (1 course)
[Principles of Money and of Banking, A.A. Young]		 credit
Received A. M. in March, 1926

 

The established grades are A, B, C, D, and E.

A grade of A, B, Credit, Satisfactory, or Excused indicates that the course was passed with distinction. Only courses passed with these grades may be counted toward a higher degree.

(Signed) Lawrence S. Mayo
Assistant Dean.

_____________________________

COPY

Harvard University
Division of History, Government, and Economics
Cambridge, Massachusetts
September 29, 1928

To Whom It May Concern:

This is to certify that Mr. E. J. Hamilton has completed all the requirements for the degree of Ph. D. in Economics. The degree will be conferred in February, 1929.

(Signed) Gladys E. Campbell
Secretary of the Division

 

Source: Economists’ Papers Archive. Duke University, David Rubenstein Library. Papers of Earl J. Hamilton, Box 4, Folder “Correspondence: 1920’s-1960’s; 1980’s and n.d.”.

Image Source: Earl J. Hamilton (1937) from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation website.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for Mason and Leontief’s Marxian economics course, 1937

 

Course listings and enrollment data for the course, “Karl Marx”, that was offered three times in the 1930’s at the Harvard economics department have been posted earlier along with Wassily Leontief’s own draft outline. Before posting below the only set of final examination questions for this course that I have been able to locate, I think it is most interesting to read what Leontief thought about Marx as expressed in his 1938 paper. I have highlighted a terrific obiter dictum in Leontief’s conclusion in which he characterizes much of present-day theorizing as “purely derivative”. Still, Marx hardly comes away unbloodied: “these theories in general do not hold water”.

__________________

 Leontief’s conclusion to his 1938 article on Marxian economics

“Neither his analytical accomplishments nor the purported methodological superiority can explain the Marxian record of correct prognostications. His strength lies in realistic, empirical knowledge of the capitalist system.

Repeated experiments have shown that in their attempts to prognosticate individual behavior, professional psychologists systematically fall behind experienced laymen with a knack for “character reading.” Marx was the great character reader of the capitalist system. As many individuals of this type, Marx had also his rational theories, but these theories in general do not hold water. Their inherent weakness shows up as soon as other economists not endowed with the exceptionally realistic sense of the master try to proceed on the basis of his blueprints.

The significance of Marx for modern economic theory is that of an inexhaustible source of direct observation. Much of the present-day theorizing is purely derivative, secondhand theorizing. We often theorize not about business enterprises, wages, or business cycles but about other people’s theories of profits, other people’s theories of wages, and other people’s theories of business cycles. If before attempting any explanation one wants to learn what profits and wages and capitalist enterprises actually are, he can obtain in the three volumes of Capital more realistic and relevant first- hand information than he could possibly hope to find in ten successive issues of the United States Census, a dozen textbooks on contemporary economic institutions, and even, may I dare to say, the collected essays of Thorstein Veblen.”

Source: Wassily Leontief. “The Significance of Marxian Economics for Present-Day Economic Theory.” The American Economic Review 28, no. 1 (1938): 1-9.

 

__________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 1171

Answer THREE or FOUR questions

  1. “The totality of productive relations determines the economic structure of the society; it constitutes the real basis of its juridical and political superstructure which determines also the corresponding forms of social consciousness.” K. Marx, “Introduction to the Critic [sic] of Political Economy.” Interpret.
  2. Marx does not attempt a general definition of a class. If he had given one what elements would he have emphasized?
  3. “Revolution is the inspired frenzy of history.” Is this comment by Trotsky strictly Marxian or must we consider it another of his “deviations”?
  4. Does the doctrine of the “withering away of the state” make the Marxian view of the ultimate form of socialism indistinguishable from anarchism?
  5. Does Marx’s economic system stand and fall with his labor theory of value?
  6. Is the Marxian explanation of the “surplus army of unemployed” essentially identical with the modern theory of technological unemployment?
  7. Discuss the Marxian explanation of business cycles.

Final. 1937.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations, History, History of Religions, … ,Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science. Jan—June, 1937. (HUC 7000.28, item 79 of 284)

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Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Draft of Marxian Economics Course Outline. Leontief, ca 1935

 

Edward S. Mason and Wassily Leontief co-taught a semester course “Karl Marx” in the economics department of Harvard in the 1935-36 and 1936-37 academic years. There were few students enrolled in the course and it was not offered in 1937-38, but due to student demand for the course it was offered (it turns out for the last time) by Leontief and Paul Sweezy in 1938-39. The material was incorporated into the course Economics of Socialism.

From Leontief’s papers I have transcribed the undated handwritten outline that was apparently drafted for this course. 

________________________

Outline of Marxian course.

Meetings 1 & 2 to be devoted to bibliography on Marx and the historical and intellectual setting of Marx’s works.—(Perhaps only the 1st meeting)

 

Subjects of discussion.

  1. Dialectical materialism.—

Theses on Feuerbach
Deutsche Idealogie
Engels’ Anti-Dühring
Engels on Feuerbach. —

Hook’s version (Towards an Understanding of Karl Marx)
Eastman—The last stand of dialectical materialism.

(Misère de la Philosophie)

  1. Economic interpretation of history.

(a) Mode of production—productive relations—forces [of] production

(b) Concept of class—proletariat—

How class consciousness is acquired—{Relation of class to productive relations
Role of economic interests—
The class view of history—Marxian interpretation of particular events

(c) Marxian theory of the state and law.

Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie—
Texts from Marx’s writing. —

 

  1. Equilibrium economics vs. Marxian economics

—Lange’s article.          —methodology

 

  1. Marx’s economic analysis—

(a) Theory of value and surplus value.

(b) Laws of capitalist development. —

(c) Capital accumulation, population, theory of crises—wage tendencies, etc.

 

  1. Dictatorship of the proletariat and democracy. —

  2. Marxian theory of revolution—

 

[second page]

Communist Manifesto

  1. Capital 1st vol. Entire. 800
  2. Theses on Feuerbach. — 20
  3. Comments Gotha Program 20
  4. Anti-Dühring—Same parts— 150
  5. Rev. & Counterrev. 150

or Civil War in France. {Letters—[unclear word] Publishers 300 pp.

  1. Intro. to Critique.

______________

            Hook— 100 p.

Eastman— 60

 

________________________

Links to Leontief’s Reading Assignments.

Marx, Karl. Critique of the Gotha programme, in Marx/Engels Seleccted Works Vol Three, pp. 13-30. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970.

Frederick Engels. Landmarks of Scientific Socialism “Anti-Duehring”. Austin Lewis, trans. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company. 1907.

Marx/Engels: Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, ca. 1910.

Marx: Karl Marx. Capital.

Engels, Friedrich. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of classical German philosophy, by Frederick Engels (1886).

Marx, Karl. Revolution and counter-revolution. Or Germany in 1848. Ed. by Eleanor Marx Aveling. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1919.

Marx, Karl. The Paris Commune […including “The Civil War in France”], New York: New York Labor News Company, 1920.

Selected correspondence, 1846-1895 [of] Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; [translated with commentary and notes by Dona Torr]. Published 1934 by Martin Lawrence Ltd. in London .     New edition published in 1936. (The Marxist-Leninist Library, vol. 9)

Marx, Karl. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy with an Appendix Containing Marx’s Introduction to the Critique. Chicago, Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1904.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. HUG 4517.30, Wassily Leontief Papers. Manuscripts and Research Notes 1930-1970, Box 5, Folder “Marx and Theory”.

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Harvard 1909 PhD Alumnus, Edmund Ezra Day. Cornell Memorial Minute, 1951

 

Edmund Ezra Day received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1909. In 1910 he joined the Harvard economics department with his specialty in the theory, organization, and practice of statistics. Following service with the War Industries Board in Washington during World War I, Day was promoted to professor at Harvard in 1920. He went on ultimately to become the president of Cornell University. His career is outlined in the Faculty Memorial Statement following his death in 1951 that is reproduced below.

______________________

Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement
Edmund Ezra Day
December 7, 1883 — March 23, 1951

Edmund Ezra Day, destined to be the fifth President of Cornell University, was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, on December 7, 1883. His parents were Ezra Alonzo and Louise Moulton Nelson Day. He attended Dartmouth College, and there made a brilliant scholastic record. He was awarded a Rufus Choate scholarship, and thus acquired the nickname of “Rufus,” which clung to him all his life. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Theta Delta Chi. He received his B. S. from Dartmouth in 1905 and an M. A. in 1906. He then entered the Harvard Graduate School, and gained a Ph. D. in Economics in 1909.

He began his teaching career as Instructor in Economics at Dartmouth, from 1907 to 1910. He entered the Harvard Department of Economics in 1910, and rose rapidly to become Professor of Economics and Chairman of the Department. During the first World War he served as statistician for the U. S. Shipping Board and the War Industries Board.

In 1923 he left Harvard for the University of Michigan. There he was Professor of Economics, organizer and first Dean of the School of Business Administration, and Dean of the University.

His administrative ability and his understanding of economic and social problems attracted the attention of the great Foundations. In 1927-28 he was associated with the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial; in 1929 he left Michigan to become director for the social sciences with the Rockefeller Foundation. He carried on concurrently the duties of director of general education with the General Education Board. His signal success in these responsible positions prompted his appointment to the presidency of Cornell in 1937.

In the following years he added to his onerous presidential duties many important tasks in educational and social realms. It is impossible here to list more than a few examples. He was president of the New York State Citizens Council, the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, the World Student Service Fund, the American Statistical Association; he was chairman of the American Council on Education, director of the National Bureau of Economic Research, director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Councillor of the National Industrial Conference Board. He held fifteen honorary degrees. He was the author of “Index of Physical Production,” “Statistical Analysis,” “The Growth of Manufactures,” (with W. Thomas), and “The Defense of Freedom”.

In 1912 he married Emily Sophia Emerson, daughter of Dean Charles F. Emerson of Dartmouth College. He leaves two sons and two daughters. One son (Dr. Emerson Day) at present holds a professorship in the Cornell Medical College.

Dr. Day was suddenly stricken by a heart attack on the morning of March 23, 1951.

Dr. Day was President of Cornell University from 1937 until his resignation on July 1, 1949. He was then appointed Chancellor, with the larger interests of the University in his hands. Counselled to disburden himself of such responsibilities for reasons of health, he resigned the Chancellorship on January 31, 1950.

The twelve years of his presidency were a period of rapid growth of the University. The student enrollment and the Faculty lists nearly doubled. New schools and units were established, responsive to new educational and social concerns of the nation: the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the School of Business and Public Administration, the School of Nutrition, the School of Aeronautical Engineering, the School of Nursing. The Floyd Newman Laboratory of Nuclear Studies in Ithaca and the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in Buffalo were inaugurated.

The physical development of the University kept pace with the new demands. Important buildings were erected, among them Olin Hall, the Newman Laboratory, Savage Hall, Moore Hall, Clara Dickson Hall, and the Administration Building. Arrangements were made for other buildings, now rising on our campus. The Greater Cornell Fund was carried triumphantly to its goal, raising over $12,500,000 for university needs.

To assess the value of Dr. Day’s contributions to the University would require far more space than can be here afforded. This much is clear and certain: that during a period of war, of disorganization and reorganization, of rapid social and economic change, of inflation, insecurity, fear, his strong hand at the helm guided us through the storms to calmer waters. We cannot know how much of his own strength, his own life, he sacrificed to this terrifying task.

The writer of the notice on the death of President Livingston Farrand (in the Necrology of the Faculty, 1940) said: “No doubt every true leader communicates something of himself to his companions. The Cornell of Andrew D. White partook of his indomitable idealism; the Cornell of Jacob Gould Schurman shared his superb, almost resistless energy; the Cornell of Livingston Farrand became somehow more urbane, more kindly, more human.” To these words we may now add that the Cornell of Edmund Ezra Day became more socially conscious, more cognizant of its duties to the state and the world, more aware of its function as an organ of the body politic. The Cornell new schools established during Dr. Day’s regime were mostly schools of social service. Within the older units of the University a corresponding influence was at work. Such Departments as Sociology and Psychology were reconstituted; the need for social justification was felt throughout the University.

Dr. Day liked to ask provocative and sometimes infuriating questions. He liked to affront a Professor of, for instance, English, with the demand: “What are you trying to do? What is the use of the study of literature?” The Professor of English usually found, after his first bewilderment or anger had died, that the necessity of defining his aims was very wholesome. Dr. Day of course knew his own answers before he asked the question.

His mood was often quizzical. He liked to shock, unsettle, disturb; he enjoyed playing dumb. He was convinced that the great menace to successful teaching is complacency, satisfaction with routine. Tirelessly experimental himself, he could easily be exasperated by the conservatism of the Faculties. And if, as was inevitably the case, Faculty members found themselves in disagreement with him, they had only to visit him to be most cordially received and most fairly heard. In such circumstances his visitors were usually astonished to find how minutely Dr. Day was acquainted with the least operations of his great, far-flung, multifarious University, and how he had given serious attention to the smallest of her problems.

He gained this knowledge by giving to Cornell the best part of his thought and his life. He had little time for recreation, all too little for the intellectual diversions he earnestly desired. His obligation to Cornell came always first, and this obligation never ended, never left him free.

He had planned, on his retirement, to take at last his rewards: the pleasure of friendship, the pleasure of reading, the mere simple pleasure of rest. He did not have time for his rewards. He had never had time. He had time only for his duty.

Morris Bishop, S. C. Hollister, L. A. Maynard

 

Source: Cornell University. Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement, 1951.

Image Source: Edmund Ezra Day from Harvard Class Album 1920.

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Harvard. Memo on Master’s degree requirements in ten other departments, 1935

 

The following memo was found in the papers of the Harvard department of economics outlining the formal requirements for the award of a master’s degree in economics for ten other departments ca. 1935.  Harvard requirements for 1934-35 have been previously posted here at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

____________________

REQUIREMENTS FOR A.M. IN ECONOMICS

University of Chicago
—Catalogue Vol. XXV, March 15, 1935—
No. 7, p. 293.

“The specific requirements for the Master’s degree are:

  1. A minimum of 8 courses, or their equivalent (of which at least 6 must be in Grades II and III above*). Either in his undergraduate or graduate work the candidate should cover the substantial equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree in economics…(May be shown by examination.)
  2. A thesis involving research of at least semi-independent character.
  3. A final examination (either oral or written at discretion of the department). The examination is on the thesis and its field and on one other field chosen by the candidate.
  4. All candidates…are expected to show ability to think clearly…on abstract economic questions, and familiarity with terms and common concepts of economic science.

No language requirement for A.M. apparently.

No set time limit, but (p. 282) they seem to regard three of work in economics (either as graduate or as undergraduate) as “normal preparation” although “exceptionally capable” students may do it in less time.

* Grade II and III being respectively survey and problem courses (II), and Research, reading and seminar courses (III). Grade I includes intermediate courses.

 

Stanford University

  1. One academic year of graduate work (A “normal time” but also minimum).
  2. Thesis
  3. Examinations (general or final and at discretion of department).

 

Cornell University

  1. At least one full year of residence at Cornell.
  2. “No student may be admitted to candidacy for any of the degrees of A.M., M.S.,…, or Ph.D. whose training has not included work in a foreign language equivalent to three units of entrance in one language or two in each of two languages.
  3. A thesis or (at departmental discretion) an essay.
  4. Written or oral (at departmental discretion) final examination.

He must show a knowledge of:

Three special fields, such as: in Economic Theory and History:

(1) Good general knowledge of history of economic thought, including classical school and contemporary.
(2) Familiarity with economic analysis and controversial area of economic thought.
(3) A background knowledge of social and intellectual history.

or in Monetary Theory:

One requirement:
(1) A detailed understanding of the theory and history of money; monetary system of the United States, theory and history of banking; banking system of United States, foreign exchange, monetary aspects of cyclical fluctuations.

No specific course requirements as far as I can see.

 

University of Minnesota

  1. At least one full academic year’s work (in residence).
  2. Thesis required.
  3. Nine credit hours each quarter of graduate courses for three quarters.
  4. He must have done in three years (undergraduate) work in his major subject if it is open to freshmen, or two years otherwise.
  5. A reading knowledge of a foreign language to be determined by the department is necessary.
  6. An examination.

 

University of Michigan

  1. Residence requirement: One semester and one summer session, or three summer sessions; nine hours work a semester and six hours a summer session are minimum to establish residence at the respective sessions.
  2. A minimum of 24 hours of graduate work is required (i.e. necessary but not alone sufficient).
  3. Thesis may be required at discretion of department (apparently economics does not require it).

 

University of Wisconsin

  1. At least two semesters’ work, at least one of which to be at Wisconsin.
  2. An oral examination.
  3. A thesis may be required of students seeking to specialize in a definite line of study.

 

Princeton University

“After Commencement Day, 1935, the degree of M.A. will be awarded only to a student who has passed the general examination for the Doctor’s degree.” This implies a knowledge of French and German; and implies not less than two years graduate study. The examination may be written, oral, or both. One year of residence is required.

 

Yale University

  1. Two full years of resident graduate study required (but may be in less time in exceptional cases where unusual scholarship is demonstrated).
  2. Reading knowledge of either French or German.
  3. An essay is required of all candidates.
  4. (Apparently) A comprehensive written examination in field of concentration in Department of Economics (it is not specified for which degree so that it seems to apply to both M.A. and Ph.D.).

 

Columbia University

  1. “The candidate shall have registered for and attended courses aggregating not less than thirty tuition points, distributed over a period of not less than one academic year or its equivalent.”
  2. “The candidate shall have satisfied the department of his choice that he has satisfied requirements specified by the department for the degree.” (May include courses, examination, an essay, seminars, or “other work”.)

 

University of California

“There are required 20 semester units and in addition a thesis.”

“At least eight of the 20 units must be strictly graduate work.”

“The student must spend one year of residence.”

Rate of taking units:

“Graduate students in the regular session taking only upper division courses are limited to a program of 16 units” (a semester or a year? probably a semester).

“Graduate students…taking only graduate courses are limited to 12 units.” Mixtures are regulated in proportion thereto.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers 1930-1961. (UAV 349.11) Box 13, Folder “Graduate Instruction, Degree Requirements.”

 

 

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Harvard. Four Ph.D. Examinees in Economics, 1910-11

 

 

For four Harvard economics Ph.D. candidates this posting provides information about their respective academic backgrounds, the six subjects of their general examinations along with the names of the examiners, the subject of their special subject, thesis subject and advisor(s) (where available).

________________________________________

 

DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.
1910-11

Notice of hour and place will be sent out three days in advance of each examination.
The hour will ordinarily be 4 p.m.

Alfred Burpee Balcom.

General Examination in Economics, Monday, May 1, 1911.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Bullock, Carver, Sprague, Young, and Perry.
Academic History: Acadia College, 1904-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1908-11; S.B., Acadia, 1907; A. M., Harvard, 1909. Austin Teaching Fellow, 1910-11.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. Philosophy.
Special Subject: Economic Theory.
Thesis Subject: “Nassau William Senior as an Economist.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Lucius Moody Bristol.

General Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Thursday, May 4, 1911.
Committee: Professors Peabody (chairman), Taussig, Carver, Sprague, Young, and Dr. Brackett.
Academic History: University of North Carolina, 1894-95; Boston University School of Theology, 1896-99; Harvard Divinity School, 1909-10; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-11; A.B., North Carolina, 1895; S.T.B., Boston University, 1899.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory. 3. Labor Problems. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Statistics.
Special Subject: Social Reforms.
Thesis Subject: “Conservation of Vital Forces in Boston.” (With Professor Peabody.)

Johann Gottfried Ohsol.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, Friday, May 5, 1911.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Bullock, Carver, Sprague, Dr. Foerster, and Dr. Holcombe.
Academic History: Polytechnic Institute of Riga, 1899-1903; Harvard Graduate School, 1909-11; Candidate in Commerce, Riga, 1903.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Thesis Subject: (undecided).

Ralph Emerson Heilman.

General Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Thursday, May 11, 1911.
Committee: Professors Peabody (chairman), Taussig, Bullock, Carver, Dr. Brackett and Dr. McConnell.
Academic History: Morningside College, 1903-06; Northwestern University, 1906-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1909-11; Ph.B., Morningside, 1906; A.M., Northwestern, 1907.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory and its History. 3. Poor Relief. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Labor Problems.
Special Subject: (undecided).
Thesis Subject: “Chicago Traction.” (With Professor Ripley.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1910-11”.

Image Source:  Harvard University, ca. 1910. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Regulation of Public Utilities and Transportation. Chamberlin, 1939-40

 

This is the third industrial organization/regulation semester course offered at Harvard in the immediate pre-WWII era. Syllabi and other material have previously been posted for E. S. Mason and P. Sweezy’s “The Corporation and its Regulation” and Mason’s “Industrial Organization and Control”. Edward H. Chamberlin’s teaching portfolio at Harvard included transportation economics from 1931. Here the focus is on regulation of natural monopolies such as public utilities and railroads.

______________________

Course Description, 1940-41

[Economics 63b 2hf. Public Utilities (including Transportation).] Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Chamberlin.
Omitted in 1940-41; to be given in 1941-42.

The regulation of the public utility and transportation industries as a phase of the control over economic activity exercised by the modern state. Rates, service, earnings, efficiency, financial practices, holding companies and consolidations, coordination, national planning, government competition with private enterprise, and public ownership.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 57.

______________________

Enrollment 1939-40

[Economics] 63b 2hf. Professor Chamberlin.—Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 90: 1 Graduate, 43 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 7 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1939-40, p. 99.

______________________

Economics 63b
1939-40

Reading List

Principal books used:

D. P. Locklin, Economics of Transportation (revised ed.)
Mosher & Crawford, Public Utility Regulation
Wilfred Owen, Highway Economics
G. L. Wilson, [J. M.] Herring, [R. B.] Eutsler, Public Utility Regulation

 

Week

Assignment

1

 Development of railroad transportation and regulation to 1920 Locklin, Chs. 1-5, 9, 10

2

 Theory of railroad rates — competition and control Locklin, Chs. 7, 14

3

 Particular rates, discrimination: railroads Locklin, Chs. 6, 8, 20

4

 Particular rates, discrimination: utilities Mosher & Crawford, Introduction and Chs. 17-21

5

 Legal and economic criteria for public utilities
Commissions, legislatures and courts		 Mosher & Crawford, Ch. 1
Mosher & Crawford, Chs. 2-6
Locklin, Ch. 13

6

 Railroad consolidation Locklin, Ch. 11
Jones, Principles of Railway Transportation, Ch. 17
Locklin, Ch. 19, pp. 315-21, 643-42

7

 Railroad consolidation, financial regulation
(Hour examination, Thursday, March 21)		 Locklin, Chs. 12, 25, 26

8

 Public Utility Holding Company
National Power Policy		 Wilson, et al. Ch. 11; pp. 310-319, Chs. 15, 16

Vacation

9

 Control of investment, general rate level, earnings Mosher & Crawford, Ch. 7
Locklin, Chs. 15-18

10

 Control of investment (continued)
Highway transport		 Mosher & Crawford, Chs. 8, 9, 16
Owen, whole essay

11

 Highway, water and air transport; coordination Locklin, Chs. 33, 34, 31, 35, 36

12

 Public ownership Locklin, Ch. 29
Mosher & Crawford, Chs. 32-34 and Conclusion

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10). Box 23, Folder “Course outlines 1935-37-38-42”.

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Reading Period Assignment

Economics 63b: Read one of the following:

  1. First Report of the Federal Coördinator of Transportation, pp. 1-37.
    Fourth Report of the Federal Coördinator of Transportation, pp. 1-60.
    Report—Immediate Relief for Railroads (April, 1938), 19-71 (75th Congress, 3rd Session, House Doc. No. 583).
    Report of Committee Appointed by the President—Recommendations upon the General Transportation Situation (Dec., 1938), pp. 3-64 (Committee on Public Relations of Eastern Railroads).
  2. S. Daggett, Principles of Inland Transportation (revised edition). Chs. 36-37 [3rd edition, 1941].
    Three articles by H. E. Dougall on French Railways in Journal of Political Economy, June, 1933; June, 1934; April, 1938.
    Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science. January, 1939, pp. 185-226.
  3. A. L. Gordon, The Public Corporation in Great Britain, Chs. 1, 3, 4, 6.
  4. Bauer and Gold, Public Utility Valuation for Purposes of Rate Control, pp. 155-362.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

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1939—1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 63b2

Write on FIVE questions, including numbers 1 and 6.*

  1. According to what principles do you believe the level of earnings of railroads and utilities should be regulated? Discuss the chief problems arising out of applying your principles to the situation as you find it in the United States.
  2. Contrast and evaluate the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 and the Tennessee Valley Authority as alternative methods of public utility regulation.
  3. What various solutions have been proposed for the strong and weak road problem? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  4. Discuss the possibilities and limitations of reducing the cost of railroad transportation (a) through consolidation or coordination without government ownership; (b) through government ownership.
  5. Do you believe this country should subsidize directly or indirectly any means of transportation? If so, what means, to what extent and why? If not, why not?
  6. Answer the question corresponding to your reading period choice:
    1. (Coördinator’s and other reports) which of the recommendations in the several reports assigned would you consider most relevant to the transportation problem as it appears in 1940? Indicate your own evaluation of them.
    2. (Foreign railways) Contrast the French rate-making scheme set up by the Convention of 1921 with the rate-making arrangement prevailing in the United States after 1920. How do you account for the differences?
    3. (Gordon) “More than any other existing institution in Great Britain, the Central Electricity Board has faced and met a task of economic rationalization on a national scale.” What were the factors which led to a demand for rationalization and how was this rationalization accomplished?
    4. (Bauer and Gold) Discuss any two or three of the chief issues raised by your reading in Bauer and Gold relative to valuation for rate making purposes.

*If you prefer, instead of answering specific questions, you may write a three hour essay describing what you consider to be the chief problems confronting the railroad and utility industries in the United States today and outlining (and defending) a program of legislation to meet them.

Final. 1940.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28) Box 5. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1940.

Image Source: Edward H. Chamberlin from Harvard Class Album 1946.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus and Final Exam for Industrial Organization and Control. Edward S. Mason, 1939-40

 

Following the first term course Economics 61a (The Corporation and its Regulation) that he co-taught with Paul Sweezy, Edward S. Mason taught the following term course Economics 62b (Industrial Organization and Control) that was focussed on market structures and antitrust policies.

Besides being the co-director for the Department of Labor’s studies for the Temporary National Economic Committee (The Online Books Page provides links to TNEC publications), during the immediate period before the U.S. entered WWII he was a consultant  for raw material problems for the Office of Production Management. In 1941 he joined the Office of Strategic Services where he served as the deputy director of the Research and Analysis Branch. This and some of his following government service is discussed in his Oral History Interview  at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.

Fun Fact:  John F. Kennedy took this course in the second semester of his senior year (1940).

______________________

Course Description, 1940-41

Economics 62b 2hf. Industrial Organization and Control. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Mason.
Economics 61a is a prerequisite for this course.

This course deals with the nature of monopolistic and competitive markets, the economic problems of large scale enterprises and combinations, the trust problem, and trust policy. Particular attention will be paid to recent changes in our system of industrial control.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 57.

______________________

Enrollment 1939-40

[Economics] 62b 2hf. Professor Mason.—Industrial Organization and Control.

Total 95: 1 Graduate, 20 Seniors, 53 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 8 Other.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1939-40, p. 99.

 

______________________

Economics 62b
1939-40

Industrial Organization and Control
Outline and Assignments

 

Week of

 Lectures

Assignment

I
THE ECONOMICS OF THE FIRM

1. Feb. 5-10

 1. Outline of field.
2. The decline of competition?
3. The problem of monopoly in law and economics.		 Burns, Chs. 1, 9.

2. Feb. 12-17

 1. The market position of the individual firm.
2. Costs and rate of output.
3. The relation of size to costs.		 Hamilton, pp. 320-88, 395-429, 449-500.

3. Feb. 19-24

 1. The flexibility of costs.
2. Vacation.
3. Section.		 Structure of the American Economy, Chs. 7, 8.

II
TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL MARKETS

4. Feb. 26-March 2

 1. Cotton textiles.
2. [continued]
3. The problem of excess capacity.		 Whitney, Chs. 2, 3.

5. March 4-9

 1. Price discrimination.
2. Bsing point systems and other types of geographical price discrimination.
3. [continued]		 Burns, Chs. 6, 7.

6. March 11-16

 1. Markets in which sellers are few, agricultural implements.
2. Automobiles.
3. Examination.		 Burns, Chs. 3, 4.

7. March 18-23

 1. Aluminum.
2. Construction industries.
3. [continued]		 Burns, Ch. 5.
Price Research in Steel and Petroleum, Part II.

8. March 20-25

 1. Competition between channels of distribution.
2. Non-price competition.
3. Section.		 Burns, Ch. 8.
Cassels, Q.J.E.
Chain Stores—Final Report, pp. 23-49.

Vacation

III
GOVERNMENT REGULATION

9.   April 8-13

 1. The anti-trust acts.
2. Mergers and restraints of competition.
3. Robinson-Patman Act.		 Seager & Gulick, Chs. 17-20.

10. April 15-20

 1. Federal Trade Commission.
2. Problem of unfair practices.
3. Bituminous Coal Commission.		 Seager & Gulick, Chs. 21-23.

11. April 22-27

 1. N.R.A.
2. N.R.A.
3. Section		 National Recovery Administration, Chs. 20-24.

12. April 29-May 4

 1. Fair trade legislation.
2. Issues in the Monopoly
3. Present status of the monopoly problem.		 National Recovery Administration, Chs. 25-30.

 

Titles of books assigned.

A. R. Burns, The Decline of Competition.
Seager and Gulick, Trust and Corporation Problems.
W. Hamilton, Price and Price Policies.
Lyon and others, The National Recovery Administration.
S. Whitney, Trade Associations and Industrial Control.
J. M. Cassels, “The Marketing Machinery in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1936.
Federal Trade Commission, Final Report on Chain Store Investigation, Senate Document No. 4, 74th Congress, 1st Session.
National Resources Committee, The Structure of the American Economy.
National Bureau of Economic Research, Price Research in the Steel and Petroleum Industries.

Reading period assignment to be announced.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (2 of 2)”.

______________________

Reading Period Assignment

Economics 62b: Read one of the following:

  1. Lloyd Reynolds, The Control of Competition in Canada.
  2. National Bureau of Economic Research, Textile Markets.
  3. B. Gaskill, The Regulation of Competition.
  4. Pribram, Cartell Problems.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

______________________

Course Final Exam

1939—1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 62b2

I
About 45 minutes

  1. Write a critical appraisal of the book you read for the reading period assignment.

II
Answer both questions

  1. Do you think that the use of a basing-point system of price quoting in the iron and steel industry eliminates price competition? Discuss.
  2. How would you explain the fact that in the middle of the 1920’s competition in the automobile industry noticeably shifted from an emphasis on price to an emphasis on non-price factors?

III
Answer all questions

  1. The Robinson-Patman Act is “an anti-competition statute slipped into the anti-trust laws.” Discuss.
  2. Do you think that, as the Courts have interpreted the anti-trust acts, a different standard of legality has been applied to “integrated” than to “loose” combinations? Discuss.
  3. Assuming that the preservation of competition is a desirable objective, what do you consider to be the largest gaps in our anti-trust legislation?

Final. 1940.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28) Box 5. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1940.

Image Source: Webpage “Oral History Interview with Edward S. Mason. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. Portrait of Edward S. Mason.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Corporation and its Regulation. Syllabus and readings. Mason and P. Sweezy, 1939-40

 

The teaching duo of Edward S. Mason and Paul M. Sweezy taught a popular course on the theories of socialism at Harvard as well as the course of today’s posting that provides the syllabus and reading assignment for a one semester course on corporations. Also two problem sets discussed in the recitation sections were found filed with the course outline and are transcribed below. 

This course was a prerequisite for Mason’s second term course “Industrial Organization and Control”.

______________________

Course Description, 1940-41

Economics 61a 1hf. The Corporation and its Regulation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.

This course deals with the development of the modern business corporation, and corporate accounting, and financial practices. Particular attention will be paid to the internal organization of the corporations including the relation between security owners and management. State and Federal regulation of incorporation and security issue and the nature of the government corporation will form a part of the course.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), pp. 56-57.

______________________

Enrollment 1939-40

[Economics] 61a 1hf. Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.—The Corporation and its Regulation.
Total 169: 2 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 84 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 11 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1939-40, p. 99.

______________________

Economics 61a
1939-40

Outline

 

Date Lecture Subjects Reading
Sept. 27-30 Introduction
History of the Corporation		 C. C. Abbott, “The Rise of the Business Corporation” [Ann Arbor, 1936]
Oct. 1-7 History of the Corporation
Capital and Capitalization
Financial Problems		 Dewing I: 2-4
Oct. 8-14 Valuation and Depreciation
Valuation and Depreciation
Section		 Dewing III:1-4,   IV:3-5
Oct. 15-21 Corporate Reorganization
Case Studies in Corporate Reorganization		 Dewing IV:7-8, VI: 1-2
Oct. 22-28 Ownership, Management, and Control
Case studies of individual companies
Section		 Berle and Means I:1-6, II: 5-6
Oct. 29-Nov. 4 The Economics of the Firm
Size and Efficiency
Examination		 Clark, “Economics of Overhead Costs” Chs. 4,6;
[Henry] Dennison, Management in
[Recent Economic Changes in the United States, New York, 1929], Vol. 2
Nov. 5-11 Management Problems
Corporation and the Theory of Profits
Section		 Knight “Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit” Chs. 7, 9, 12
Nov. 12-18 The Corporation and Private Property
Case Study
Corporate Concentration of Economic Control		 Berle and Means IV:1-4;
Structure of the American Economy, Chs. 7,9; Appendices 9-13
Nov. 20-26 The Stock Market
Sale of New Securities
Ownership of Securities		 20th Century Fund “The Security Markets” Chs. VIII, IX, XI, XIII
Nov. 27-Dec. 3 Ownership of Securities
Holiday
Section Meeting		 “The Security Markets” Chs. III, IV, VI
Dec. 4-10 Institutional Investment
Development of Corporation Law
Development of Corporation Law		 Berle and Means, Book II
Dec. 11-17 The Securities Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission
The Government Corporation		 4th Annual Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission
J. H. Thurston “Government Proprietary Corporations” Chs. I, VI

 

Economics 61a
Section Meeting
Oct. 13-14, 1939

  1. Discuss the significant differences between the modes of raising capital of the following firms, as indicated by their capital stock and funded debt:
    1. United States Steel Corporation (1934)

Common Stock

$870,000,000

Preferred Stock

360,000,000

Surplus

520,000,000

Bonds guaranteed by U.S.S.C.

50,000,000

Not guaranteed

40,000,000

Purchase Money Obligations

16,000,000

$1,856,000,000
  1. International Harvester Company (1937)

Common Stock

$170,000,000

Preferred stock

82,000,000

Surplus

75,000,000

$327,000,000
  1. Associated Gas and Electric Company (1937)

Capital Stock and Surplus

$148,000,000

Minority Interest

94,000,000

Convertible Bonds

49,000,000

Other Funded Debt

598,000,000

$889,000,000
  1. New York Central Railroad Company (1937)

Capital Stock

$562,000,000

Surplus

204,000,000

Equipment Obligations

31,000,000

Mortgage Bonds

513,000,000

Debenture Bonds

5,500,000

Collateral Trust Bonds

90,000,000

$1,405,500,000
  1. Discuss the influence of dividend policy on the interests of the following types of shareholder:
    1. Common stock.
    2. Non-participating, non-cumulative preferred.
    3. Non-participating, cumulative preferred.
    4. Participating, non-cumulative preferred.
    5. Participating, cumulative preferred.
    6. Debenture bond.
  2. Until about 1930 the courts generally held that non-cumulative preferred shareholders had a claim against the company for dividends equal to the stated percentage in their shares provided such dividends had been earned but not declared. Does this mean, in effect, that no company could really issue non-cumulative preferred stock prior to 1930? Can you see any reason why the courts should take such a stand?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (2 of 2)”.

______________________

Reading Period Assignment
Jan. 4-17, 1940

Economics 61a: Read one of the following:

  1. Kennedy, E. D., Dividends to Pay.
  2. Flynn, J. T., Security Speculation
  3. Gordon, Lincoln, The Public Corporation in Great Britain.
  4. Crum, W. L., Corporate Size and Earning Power.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

Image Source: Edward S. Mason and Paul Sweezy from Harvard College Class Album 1937.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Alumnus (A.B., Ph.D.) Professor Seymour Edwin Harris, 1945 and 1970

 

The Silver and Gold Anniversary Class Reunions (25th and 50th, respectively) of Harvard College publish reports sent by class members to the class secretary. For answering the question, whatever happened to X, Class of ‘YY, these class reunion volumes can be useful. While it is not hard to discover what happened to Seymour Harris, a member of the Harvard Class of 1920 who went on to become a professor of economics at Harvard, the personal notes from this Harvard man, crimson to the bone, provide us a glimpse at least of how he wanted himself to be viewed by his former classmates..

_____________________

SEYMOUR EDWIN HARRIS
[1945]

Home Address: Four Winds Farm, West Acton, Mass.
Office Address: Room 234, Littauer Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Born: Sept. 8, 1897, New York, N.Y. Parents: Henry Harris, Augusta Kulick.
Prepared at: Morris High School, New York, N.Y.
Years in College: 1918-1920. Degrees: A.B. cum laude, 1920; Ph.D., 1926.
Married: Ruth Black, Sept. 3, 1923, Honesdale, Pa.
Occupation: Professor of economics, Harvard University.
Military or Naval Record: Harvard Unit, Students’ Army Training Corps, 1918.
Wartime Government Posts: Director, Office of Export-Import Price Control; member, Policy Committee of Board of Economic Warfare; member, Secretary of State’s Committee on Post-War Economic Policy; adviser on Price Control and Stabilization to several Latin American governments; economic adviser to vice-chairman, War Production Board.
Offices held: Managing Editor, Review of Economic Statistics.
Member of: Harvard Faculty Club.
Publications: Thirteen volumes in economics; Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy; Post-War Economic Problems; Economics of America at War; Price and Related Controls in American Economy; Economic Problems of Latin America; Inflation in War and Post-War.

SEYMOUR HARRIS gives us a reading time of five minutes for the following account: “We—my wife and I—live twenty-five miles outside of Boston. We have a 40-acre farm and an old colonial house. This offers a much-needed escape from Cambridge, as the latter in turn is an escape from wartime Washington. I wish that I could say that we were doing a good job on the farm. Actually, help is not available, and the amount of time to be squeezed out these days for its care is limited. Our only farming this year has been a 7000-foot vegetable garden, one spraying of our two apple orchards, and frequent encounters with millions of ants, potato bugs, skunks, bats, crickets, etc.

“My working hours are divided among the following: teaching, writing, editing, and war work for the government. The last is the most maddening and the most interesting—also the most futile, tiring, and exasperating, yet rewarding. The newsworthy fact is not that so little, but that so much is accomplished in Washington. In retrospect this is hard to understand, for the se-up is such that progress would seem impossible. Yet we have increased our national income by 125 per cent, put eleven millions into the armed services, and produced war goods twice the value of our whole national income in 1932. Tens of thousands of little bureaucrats (including the writer) and tens of thousands of ingenious business men and millions of loyal workers have achieved what to most experts seemed to be the impossible in 1940. We have produced the mightiest war machine and the highest standard of living in our modern civilization. Our number one economic problem of the post-war is to do an equally effective production and distribution job. Upon our success or failure rests the future of private enterprise.

“Writing has become a habit with me—a drug, if you will. I have written (had printed) at least two million words. As I look back, I am surprised that I have had the patience to write so much. As I look forward, I am impatient to write even more. I can scarcely wait to finish a book so that I can start another. At present one is in page proof, another is in press, a third is about to go to press, a fourth is being planned. I ask myself why. It is certainly not because I hold that the world is waiting for my pontificalia. In fact, I often wonder if books are ever read. But the publishers seem to find printing books profitable, and they have sold 6,000 to 7,000 copies of at least one book of mine—practically a best-seller for technical books. Perhaps a slight contribution to the world’s knowledge is made, and it is hoped that in some manner or other we do have a very small effect on public policy.

“My wife, who has always given me editorial and proofreading assistance, does her best to discourage me—perhaps in self-defense. But there is as little hope for me as for the alcoholic, cures of which, I am told, are less than ten per cent. So long as paper and pencil are to be found my energies will go into writing, and so long as Scotch is available, the alcoholic will go after it. A psychiatrist might cure me, but I shall not give him a chance. The cure would leave me with little to do.

“My views are not always orthodox. Even the Saturday Evening Post has editorialized against some of my unacceptable (to them) views. To state them: I would like to see a revival of capitalism. I am not sure that private enterprise can carry the ball. But we should give it the best possible milieu. Several years in government work have convinced me more than ever that regimentation is not for the American people. And the bureaucrat soon learns to hate controls even more than those whom he subjects to controls. I hope that we can have a minimum of government participation in our economic life. Yet I fear that unplanned capitalism will not work. Can we have a society half capitalistic and half socialistic? Here is hoping that the thirties were not so significant as many of us fear.

“Lest you conclude that I work and farm and that’s all, let me add that I like to play tennis, golf, and especially to ski. I learned how to ski at forty, when I took an enforced vacation. I ski cautiously as old men must, but I manage to ski everything and so far with few bad spills. I have covered as much as thirty miles downhill in one day—riding up, of course.

“All this proves once more that I write too much. I want to conclude by saying that I have had one good break—a fine wife.

“And here are an additional 1,000 words—writing time thirty minutes, reading time five minutes. I shall not read what I have written, for if I do, I shall never send it.”

Source:  Harvard Class of 1920. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (Cambridge, 1945), pp. 337-339.

_____________________

SEYMOUR HARRIS
[1970]

SEYMOUR HARRIS was born September 8, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Henry and August (Kulick) Harris. He prepared at Morris High School, New York City, and at Harvard received an A.B., cum laude, in 1920 and a Ph.D. in 1926. From Monmouth College in 1961 he received an LL.D. In Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on September 3, 1923, he married Ruth Black, who died September 9, 1965. In Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 27, 1968, he married Dorothy Heron. He reports the following offices held, honors and awards: member of executive board and vice-president, American Economic Association; David A. Wells Prize, Harvard; Alexander Hamilton award, U. S. Treasury, 1968; Gold Medal for contribution to New England Economy; joint winner, Post War Plan for Greater Boston. His publications include: fifty books, the latest, The Economics of Harvard, 800 pages (in press); and edited the McGraw-Hill Economic Handbook Series. A college professor and writer, and a professor at Harvard for forty-three years he writes:

“I am finishing my fiftieth year of teaching—two years at Princeton, forty-three at Harvard, and five years at the University of California, San Diego. Am now Littauer Professor, Political Economy, emeritus, Harvard (since 1946).

“I have been an editor of four journals, including twenty years as editor of the Harvard Review of Economics and Statistics.

“I served on eight committees at Harvard, inclusive of General Education, Athletics, and Fringe Benefits.

“Over a period of thirty years I served on twenty-three committees or departments of the U.S. government, including chief advisor of the secretary of the treasury, 1961-68, and testified and wrote statements for about fifty congressional committees; was an advisor to three Massachusetts governors, and to the Conference of New England Governors.

“I was an advisor of President Kennedy and also Governor Stevenson in three presidential campaigns.

“I have also served as president of the Harvard Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

“Upon the occasion of my retirement from Harvard in December 1963, letters of congratulation and commendation were received from a number of eminent men, including, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Adlai E. Stevenson, United States Representative to the United Nations, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Clinton P. Anderson, United States Senate, Joseph S. Clark, United States Senate, Paul H. Douglas, United States Senate, Abe Ribicoff, United States Senate, Walter W. Heller, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, Washington, Sherman Adams, Lincoln, New Hampshire, Dennis J. Roberts, Providence, Rhode Island, and President Nathan Pusey of Harvard.”

Home Address, 9036 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, Calif. 92037. Office Address, Dept. of Economics, Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, Calif. 92037.

 

Source:  Harvard Class of 1920. Fiftieth Anniversary Report (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 183-184.

Image Source:  Harvard Class of 1920. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (Cambridge, 1945), p. 1046.